What About Now, Eve?
by AngelOfFluffiness
Summary: The ElGang grows sick and tired of seeing two in their group missing one another's feelings. So action is taken while the redhead sings in the shower. A song that they know a certain silver-haired nasod needs to understand...or she'll never truly be at peace with herself or them. Most of all...she'll never understand what love is or the boy trying to show her that he loves her...


**Hello everyone! I do not own Elsword or the song What About Now? by Daughtry. I do, however, ship Elsword and Eve to no end. Ara and Chung...maybe, I haven't decided. I sort of tossed them into it for this one. XD I actually dedicate this story to my boyfriend, since I wouldn't have actually gotten into Elsword without him! And he sort of inspired me on this one. We roleplay the Elsword and Eve pairing together, so you might see more of them from me around here.  
So let's get down to it! Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

**Eve: **Code Nemesis  
**Elsword: **Rune Slayer  
**Rena: **Wind Sneaker  
**Raven: **Blade Master  
**Aisha: ** Dimensional Witch  
**Chung:** Deadly Chaser  
**Ara: **Sakra Devanam

* * *

**What About Now, Eve?**

It was a cloudy evening outside as the ElGang went about their evening routines a little differently than normal. It had, of course, been another long day of searching for the El and fighting dangers for villages again. Not a bad life really, but not an easy one either. Especially with what everyone could see was a slight amount of tension. Not severe tension…and not even the dangerous kind…but the tension between people that really like each other and weren't saying so. Everyone had already eaten so while Rena, Aisha, and Raven cleaned the kitchen, Eve excused herself as Elsword vanished to the shower for his time slot. With so many people…time slots were the only ways people really could all have a decent shower. Ara and Chung, as it wasn't their day to clean the kitchen, took one another's hands, and headed to their room.

However, aside from Elsword and Eve, everyone actually had different plans for this evening, as Elsword wound up belting a song at the top of his lungs. Now, everyone knew that song Elsword was singing. It wasn't one he sang often and it definitely didn't fit him. He always sang it when he thought of _her…_because it fit her. It always fit her…and that was why all of the ElGang knew she needed to sing it with him. She really did…the woman repairing herself and her drones…had no idea how much she needed to join him. Because she loved him more than she'd ever admit…and more than she would ever figure out on her own.

**Shadows fill an empty heart  
As love is fading  
From all the things that we are  
But are not saying  
Can we see beyond the scars  
And make it to the dawn?**

So that was why Raven knocked on Eve's door that night before walking onward. That was why Rena wasn't far behind, grabbing Eve on the way when the unknowing nasod opened the door. That was why Aisha happily walked by with a key, and locked Eve's door, thus cutting off an escape point Eve would have if she didn't like this talk. That was all the more reason for Ara and Chung to have their door wide open when Raven, Rena, and Aisha arrived. A chair was already there, it was where Eve was placed, blinking slightly as she stared at the group in a slightly emotionless, slightly confused expression.  
"Eve, please tell me you realize that song doesn't suit Elsword by himself," Ara sighed.

The black haired girl was sure that Eve wasn't that dense. However, the martial artist and spearswoman thought it best to make sure. She didn't want any confusion any more than Rena wanted her world to disappear, taking her with it; thus in short, neither wanted the respective things to happen. Eve sighed tiredly, gently tossing some of her silver hair over her shoulder, allowing it to flow down her back whilst the wing drones on her back adjusted themselves. Getting dragged out of her room in such a manor for something like this, why if these people weren't her friends, she would have smacked them all!  
But they were her friends, so she couldn't do such a thing to them as much as she wanted to. She even recalled slapping Elsword a couple times for rudeness...

**Change the colors of the sky  
And open up to  
The ways you made me feel alive  
The ways I loved you  
For all the things that never died  
To make it through the night  
Love will find you  
**

"I was just thinking that actually. He doesn't have much use for that song, despite singing it so much. It isn't even his typical style of music, really," Eve noted, yawning as she stretched a bit, "-why did this require me to be dragged away from the repair of Moby?"

"Eve, he's singing that because of you, for you. Because it fits you," Raven rolled his eyes.

He wasn't usually one to catch these things, but he knew love when he saw it. He had once been in love after all, with the very woman that often graced his dreams and perished in his nightmares. Raven knew love more than one would think, he could spot the reality that Eve was currently either not seeing or not willing to face.

"Me? It doesn't fit me," she stated.

"It doesn't? The cry to think about now doesn't fit the woman caught in the past and future?" Rena inquired, eying the nasod with a raised eyebrow.

The blond elf knew that Eve wasn't the best at handling emotions and feelings, but she knew very well that Eve needed to come to understand. She needed to understand…or nothing would ever come together for her. She knew that Eve and Elsword couldn't keep missing each other like this. She refused to put up with it any longer, they needed to see!

"How does it not? You haven't thought about now, Eve. You consider us your friends and everything, but you never think about some of the things of now. You don't usually come around to hang out with us, you don't take the time to interact with us a lot. The one you come closest to interacting with is Elsword. And yet you've been spending the past few weeks pushing him away emotionally. He tries to talk to you, you say one or two words, and you get away. You think you live in the now? You think this song doesn't fit you? I think you better think again," Aisha huffed, tapping her foot as she crossed her arms.  
"Yet, even with that, you two have great teamwork and always watch each other's backs. The chemistry and want is there...it's hard to miss really. We know he'd be raging if something really, really harmed you," Ara sighed, "-you're hurting you know. Him and yourself...there's no good in pushing him away when you two already do so much for each other. It's unbearable."

**What about now?  
What about today?  
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
What if our love never went away?  
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
Baby, before it's too late  
What about now?  
**

Eve swallowed back a bit. They were...right. Both of them. She had been pushing him away; as far away as she could keep him without ruining their teamwork. It was getting harder and harder, all of this for a simple defense mechanism. She knew the truth though...she knew that her pain was from all the things she was leaving unsaid. All of those words jumbled into the back of her head. All of the confusions over a thing called love and how it was affecting her. These things centered her decision to focus on the past and on the future; to forget about now.

But she couldn't forget about now...not with Elsword in it...

"Don't get us wrong, looking to the future is fine. But you're missing a lot, Eve. Lots of memories and lots of chances to understand your friends, not to mention chances to just...be yourself and see the world around you for once," Chung stated, "You're...forgetting to be yourself."  
Eve looked at them all, nodding slowly, "I-I see..."  
They watched her quietly as she sat there, a pink tint on her face. Did he really love her? Had she really been caught in the past and future so much that she forgot about everything else? About the boy that befriended her and took her with him? That helped her join the party in search of El? The boy that was always with her and watching out for, towards which she did the same? She always did the same...she always wanted his well-being. He was her first friend...and she...she did love him. Maybe it was time for the now...it was time for her to quit forgetting the now...to quit being scared of today. It was time to do something for herself...and be herself...not just sit there trying to revive a race that was becoming something she had never wanted it to become.  
She was watching the nasods, day by day, become something humanity had to run from. Something she and the others had to fight. The race she wanted so greatly to restore...was already falling apart again before it ever restarted. She didn't understand...and she still wanted them to become what they once were. But...couldn't she take care of herself too? Couldn't she gain someone she really wanted by her side too? Allow him to walk alongside her for this journey?

**The sun is breaking in your eyes  
To start a new day  
This broken heart can still survive  
With a touch of your grace  
Shadows fade into the light  
I am by your side  
Where love will find you  
**

Couldn't she face the feelings she didn't understand?  
Honestly...didn't she have to?  
"You have to go forward Eve. Looking at now isn't easy for a lot of people, I know it wasn't easy for me," Raven shook his head, "-bear in mind this is coming from the person that was iffy about even bringing you into the group. But Elsword was the one that got me to accept otherwise."  
"It's not easy for me either. I always wonder about family back home and everything. Sometimes I forget I'm on the battlefield fighting to make sure my home stays intact, sometimes I think I'm already home. But if I didn't stay in the today, I wouldn't have met you, Elsword, or anyone. I wouldn't have branched out. I think it's time for you to finish branching, Eve. You've come so far...you've come so far," Rena stated.

"Only a bit more to go," Aisha smiled at her.  
"You got this," Chung chuckled softly, still holding Ara's hand.  
"We're all here for you. Especially Elsword," Ara giggled.

Eve sighed for a moment, thinking about it. Love had really found her...and she had found it...all she had to do was reach out to Elsword and accept it. Learn to understand it.  
"Hey we all made that bet. Should we ask her?" Raven inquired to the group.

Eve became alert as Rena chuckled and nodded. The blond tuned to the silver haired nasod, smirking slightly as she put her hands on her hips, her queen skirt fluttering beneath her hands.  
"Eve, we have a question for you."  
She looked at Rena, only for Ara to ask the question. "If reviving your race would somehow require the loss of Elsword...would you do it?"  
Eve's eyes closed and she shook her head quickly, "Never. I wouldn't revive my race if it would damage him in any way."

Immediately Aisha and Chung both groaned loudly, with a unison cry of, "Well I lost that one!"  
Ara and Rena high fived with a cry of "Knew it!"

Raven just chuckled, "I thought so."

Eve just watched everyone get wrapped up in all the betting pieces, until the black haired, former military man finally guided her from the room, "I think you've heard enough of the song. Sing it with him. His voice isn't that great by itself."

She watched as he walked away, the sounds of the rest of the group's squabbling sinking into the background as she approached the closed bathroom door and waited. It wasn't long before he began the next verse.

**What about now?  
What about today?  
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
What if our love had never went away?  
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
Baby, before it's too late  
What about now?**

**Now that we're here  
Now that we've come this far  
Just hold on  
There is nothing to fear  
For I am right beside you  
For all my life  
I am yours**

Elsword's eyes shot open in surprise, the spray of hot water splashing them now. He turned his face from the gyser of water, staring over at the door. Had she just sung with him!? He knew Eve's voice...he knew it had joined. She had never joined him in singing anything before... She had hit the notes so perfectly, so gingerly, and yet with enough emotion that...it was almost hard to it was her. Turning off the water as he finished, he got out of the tub, wrapping his towel as he sang the next verse...and relished the addition of her's as she did it again.

**What about now?  
What about today?  
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
What if our love had never went away?  
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?**

A rattle of the door signaled to him that Eve was leaning against it, which she indeed was. She had her back to it, her eyes quite wide as she stared at the wall opposite her. She already knew the next verse...and she chose to sing it into a cry, Elsword blinking for a second before joining her again. Not only had she joined him...but now she started it. Finally, Elsword couldn't stand it, he pulled on his pajamas hurriedly, and pulled the door open. Eve kept herself standing, facing him as he came out next to her.  
"E-Eve..." he looked at her.  
"I think we need to talk Elsword...I have a few things to admit...and some things to apologize for," Eve sighed, looking back at her with a careful look in her eyes.  
He nodded, leading the way to his room as he unisoned the next verse of the song with her, the final verse and all. The ending of the song that reminded him so deeply of her; a fact she probably knew now by some currently unknown cause.  
_**"What about now?  
What about today?  
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
What if our love had never went away?  
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
Baby, before it's too late  
Baby, before it's too late  
Baby, before it's too late  
What about now?"**_  
She sang it with feeling, nearly matching his voice, except their voices helped each other. The pitch was nearly perfect, more perfect than it could ever be with just one of the two singing it. Once they reached his room, she sat down in a chair, whilst he sat crosslegged on his bed. She pondered him for a moment, trying to decide what to say now.

"Elsword...I have...been unforgivable for these past few weeks. Actually...for a while really. I...haven't exactly been thinking of the now...of the today lately. Only my past and what I could make the future," she frowned, "I-I've been too afraid to face now. I've been afraid of losing sight of my goal...instead of understanding the need to do things for myself."  
She swallowed a bit, Elsword watching her closely. Just when she was about to speak, he shook his head and stopped her.  
"Eve, Eve wait..." He looked at her, until he was sure he could continue, "Eve, calm down...it's okay you know. Everyone here has been fighting for things that are important to them. Your race is important to you and-"  
"Not as much as you..." she spoke up.  
He froze, his red eyes staring at her, "...wh-what..."  
"My race isn't as important to me as you!" she cried, "I wouldn't even revive my race if I thought some harm could come to you! Elsword...I'm not the best at feelings. But I've always wanted your well being...even ahead of mine..."

"Eve..." he whispered, blinking at her in surprise.  
"That song...everyone made me see today...how ridiculous and illogical I have been. Elsword...I don't get many chances to be myself...or do things for myself...but everytime I do...it's with you. You took me with you...let me understand a world I never did...you've been here every step of the way. We've been watching each others back this whole time...and I've never realized...until now...how much it means to me that you are here with me."  
She took a breath, as things were starting to compound and she was having troubles sorting all the thoughts in her head. But Elsword stood up, gently wrapping his arms around her, to which she took hold on him too as he sat both of them back on the bed.  
"Elsword...I...I want to stay with you. I believe they call this feeling love...it's not easy to understand for me...but...for you I will try."  
"I'm not great at it either Eve. But I'm pretty sure I love you too. So let's try to understand it together, alright?"  
She nodded softly, then blinked, "Ah...should we do that thing Ara and Chung do sometimes?"  
Elsword crinkled his brow for a moment, then realized what she was talking about. Softly, he leaned towards her, catching her lips with his own. Her eyes were wide for a moment, but she closed them soon, leaning against him softly.  
_'I promise not to forget about now, not anymore Elsword...'_

_**What about now?  
What about today?  
What if you're making me all that I was meant to be?  
What if our love had never went away?  
What if it's lost behind words we could never find?  
Baby, before it's too late  
Baby, before it's too late  
Baby, before it's too late  
What about now?**_

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**Hope you all enjoyed it! I will be possibly writing more for these in the future! Thanks~ enjoy and review!**_**  
**_


End file.
